Not running enough yet, but on target to swim 60 min at 1:15 pace. For my 60th birthday on 9/11, that week on 9/8 I did a workout of 60x100 on 1:30 FR holding 1:15-1:11.

Join Masters and/or Tri swim training group(s) either am or pm.

I am swimming with GCST Senior Performance Coach Don Henshaw and GCST Masters at 5a-6:15a weekdays, and 10a Saturdays, in exchange for coaching masters and some USAS kids. I have restored my previous USA Coaches credentials, which took some effort with the BGC, STSC, etc., but it's been fun so far.

Comments
My arms are less, but still somewhat sore and aching. By the end of this week I hope to swim LCM 3.5 to 4K with some degree of control and consistency. Sunday I will swim with SWFL OW swimmers in a 1.5 OWS by Naples in Venetian Bay.

Swam in a lane next to FGCU and Barbados Olympic swimmer Lani Cabrera, who is tapering for the upcoming 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She looks easy and relaxed doing 1:02 pace 100s for her 400 Free event. She is clearly very focused and motivated as we chatted afterwards while Coach Neal was pacing his other swimmers.

CommentsI was very sad to learn that Coach Neal Studd will be departing FGCU after a eight-year tenure at FGCU that included six Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Championships, a 28-1 CCSA all-time record, and five Coach of the Year awards.

He started the Florida Gulf Coast University women’s swimming and diving program in 2007, building the Eagles from the ground up with integrity, honor, and considerable success. As member of the FGCU Aquatic Center and supporter of the FGCU Swimming and Diving programs since 2011, I watched him inspire and motivate his athletes in amazing and creative ways as well as be a tireless enthusiastic advocate for swimming fitness and participation for everyone of all levels and ages.

It is with great respect, admiration, and sincere wishes for the greatest success I am delighted for Coach Neal as he takes the position of head coach of the Florida State University men's and women’s swimming and diving teams this coming 2016-17 season.

As always, the summer progresses more quickly than preferred. Our family vacations to Shanghai, Japan, and NJ (Princeton & Monmouth Junction) are over. I'm now in the second week of restarting fitness activity after nearly a three months lapse.

Workouts from July 6 - this post
*Alternated on days 7/6-13, both daily from 7/14

1,000-1,500 (100s/200s as FR-Swim/BF-K or BR-K) in HOA pool

1-2 mile walk/jog in neighborhood **Thanks to the savvy Speedsters local running community I recently brought Roka Clifton 2 at nearly 50% discount. These running shoes are amazing! For first time ever, I can run with such comfort and far less aching afterwards.

*1-3x Daily (morning-afternoon-evening)

Bands - lighter resistance upper body

10-20 Squats, 5-10 Pushups,

10 min stretching, poses, planks

*Previous benchmarks from March 2016:

Swimming - 60 minute SCY swim at 1:15/100

Running - 60 minute run at 9:15/mile

Short Term Goals - by 9/1/2106

Log or journal fitness and training to sustain momentum.

Return to weekly OWS at Vanderbilt Beach ASAP.

Support my friends by volunteering at local triathlons, running events.

Lose the 20 pounds gained during time off.

Get stronger, begin moderate weight training.

Get more flexible, specifically core area & lower body - consult with a trainer.

Borrow a bike to tryout riding in some shorter tri group training rides (I used to ride extensively in teens, 20s & early 30s). Could lead to buying a bike to make riding an ongoing activity.

Complete a one hour swim at 1:12/100 pace.

Participate in a half marathon.

Comments
I have a lifelong recurring boom and bust cycles with fitness activity relative to life circumstances. My prior cycle of uninterrupted training and fitness was almost two years partly to encountering a great network of friends through the SWFL OWS FB group I joined in 2015. One upside during this time away from fitness activities and training has been increasing professional opportunity and growth.

MFI Hearing Aids
An added dimension to my running is the MFI (made for iPhone) hearing aids which recently replaced my six years old HAs. Any audio generated from the iPhone can be transmitted directly through the HAs via a proprietary bluetooth connection. Needless to say, it provides a wonderful experience to run with music or anything one would to listen to while running.

Even more basic - but so magical for me, it very effectively makes phone calls much more clear and less intimidating. In fact recently I was able watch a webinar on my large screen via PC and also simultaneously on my iPhone via youTube where I could hear everything so well without any captions while typing notes notes the entire session.

3 Mile Swim
A beautiful brisk SWFL morning with 10 mph SW wind. Swam two laps of a 1.5 course. After rounding the first buoy about 200 yards off shore, headed north into a moderate 2-3 foot waves with incoming south-west tide. After reaching the second buoy, instead of waiting for everyone, I headed back because I get cold if I stop too long. Today it was fun to swim into the surf because the incoming tide was moderate. Swimming southward back to the first buoy with the tide surge was a nice change of pace though. Planning to do one loop, I headed back again north to join everyone coming on the back. Swimming into the surf again was great, so just kept going passing everyone going in the opposite direction. It was a great swim and I really enjoyed it.

Comments:
Beautiful day, but the pool water clarity was surprising slightly turbid, which is unusual at the FGCU Aquatic Center. Swam with GCST masters group, sharing the pool with GCST Senior and Jr Senior groups as well as Swim Florida Jr. Senior group. I was only able to do a few breath control lengths at 7 and 9 strokes.

Comments:
The few USMS meets I did these last several years, I swam much slower than I do in workouts. I even had a panic attack at the start of an 800 Meter event. On the other hand I was able to be more relaxed for OWS events. Now I going to try swim meets again, as I feel I can be more calm. The Bumpy Jones LCM Classic in Sarasota, June 11, is on my calendar.

Comments:
I was pleased with Set 2, 10x300s with no equipment, but the overall effort on the 4:00 interval was more challenging than expected. My flip turns become slower when tired and it took a supreme effort to descend 300s 6-10. Still, I am hopeful I can gradually extend that kind of training effort up to a 5000 meter set.

Although the water was about 60F as indicated by the thermometer, it was very flat. If I could handle the cold water, then it was a good time, with little wind or tide currents to swim two loops which is about 3 miles. Thanks to my friend Heather for swimming it with me! We did it together. Heather's persistently strong pace always challenges me towards more effort, and her navigation keeps me from heading out into the Gulf. Great swim by our other five campanion swimmers for going along with us on the first length! Thanks to all my awesome VB swimming friends, those who were there today and those are were not there for your encouragement and making every swim at VB a great experience!

Comments:
The 50M pool was setup as LCM, an unexpected but surprise, but confirmed that 45 minutes remained before the course change over to SCY. Modified the planned 10x300FR SCY set to the 3K swim. It was a good swim and the LCM is great OWS preparation, and... I was more tired than anticipated, hence the cruise IM SCY swim.

Comments:
The 50M pool was under maintenance today and the scoreboard clock was also not available. Diving pool (scy 25yds by 8 lands) was crystal clear and felt like 80F. Used the old analog clock on the wall behind lifeguard chair for the set sendoffs.

Cool Down
5-10 minutes talking with several swimming friends who just arrived.

Comments:
Circumstances and logistics led to swimming at FMAC where the pool temp was 86F! At times the heat reminded me of certain moments during the Swim Around Key West. By swimming mostly moderate I survived, and expect to be back at FGCU tomorrow.

The FGCU Women's Swim Team will be competing at the 2016 CCSA Swimming and Diving Championships beginning Feb 17 at the University of Georgia Gabrielson Natatorium in Athens, GA. They had a great dual meet season this year with many new team records already, so looking forward to fast championship final performances with more relay and individual NCAA I B/A cuts.

1.5 Mile Swim
In warmer weather there would be about 16-20 swimmers, but today it was 6 of us. Everyone had wetsuits on except for Heather Roku and I. However, I do not consider myself a cold water swimmer at this point. If I owned a wetsuit I would be very tempted to wear it, but so far I have managed to swim up to 30-40 minutes in low 60s water.

Since there have been multiple high wind storms the last four weeks our normal large "easy to see" orange buoys are not on the water until more consistently calmer weather. So sighting off the smaller white buoys is a challenge even with moderate 1-2 ft waves. Thankfully there are a number of excellent land base sight points that make navigation reasonably accurate, and this case it was the La Playa Resort building about three fourth mile north of VB.

The waves were breaking on to the beach from the NW with about 10 mph wind and low tide occurring in about two hours. At first, when getting started the water feels really cold where my hands and feet are numb, then feels OK after swimming 5-10 minutes. I always enjoy swimming into surf and waves (flat water is nice too). On the way back its fun to surge with the waves coming from behind. When the water is at/or over 70F I will do two loops of this course.

Afterwards on the beach, I have to move quickly to go change because even with the sun warming up the morning, I can start shivering though I have my jacket on. So only minimal socializing, and then its a quick change, into my car for the 35 minute drive home. By the time I am almost home I begin to feel more normal again.